Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group has announced that the world premiere of Spider-Man 3 will be held in Tokyo.

The multi-million dollar event will be held on April 16 at Tokyo 's upscale shopping and entertainment complex Roppongi Hills, with the film's six main cast members scheduled to attend.

Additionally, Spider-Man 3 will open theatrically in Japan on May 1, three days before the US (May 4) and earlier than any other territory. Originally scheduled to open in Japan on May 5 (as films traditionally open on Saturday here), the accelerated release date came as a surprise.

The film is also set to open on an equal or possibly greater number of screens than Sony Pictures' The Da Vinci Code, which broke the record last year at 863.

With the latest installment touted as the most expensive movie ever made at over $300m, Japan has become the key foreign market for recoupment.

While other American superhero franchises have struggled to break the $20m mark in Japan, the Spider-Man franchise has proved immensely popular, with the first installment grossing $59.47m and the second $55.23m. The third is expected to smash those results.

The new release date comes in the middle of Japan 's Golden Week holiday period. Although May 1 and 2 are technically not holidays, there are holidays either side of those dates, and many companies close for the entire period.

The original opening date (May 5) would have fallen on the last day of Golden Week, so would have not really taken advantage of people having time off work to see movies.

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